Thailand on Wednesday commenced value added tax (VAT) collection from foreign technology companies and expects to raise at least 5 billion baht ($154.70 million) in additional revenue yearly from the revenue source.
Under the new fiscal regulations, foreign platforms providing electronic services in the country will have to register for VAT payments.
According to news reports, a senior finance ministry official, Ekniti Nitithanpraphas, who confirmed the take of the VAT collection during interaction with journalists, disclosed that so far 69 companies had registered out of the 100 entities targeted.
He explained that the companies fell into five categories, including platforms getting income from e-commerce and advertising like Facebook and Google, intermediaries such as ride-hailing app Grab have and streaming services such as Netflix, he added.
Ekniti further said that companies with revenue of over 1.8 million baht would have pay VAT of 7% monthly.
The reports further indicated that the ministry’s target of 5 billion baht of additional revenue remained the minimum because that goal was derived before the pandemic, adding that the country generates about 800 billion baht annually from VAT.
Just last week, the Thai government approved an extension of the current 7% VAT rate, which has been implemented since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, until September 2023.
